TUTORIAL CHAPTER 5: Normal distribution

1. If X is a normal random variable with mean 80 and standard deviation 5, calculate the Z
score if X=72.

2. In a certain population of females, heights are normally distributed with a mean of 165
cm and a standard deviation of 8 cm . For a randomly selected female from this
population, what is the probability that her height is
(i) Less than 167cm?
(ii) Between 160 cm and 172 cm?

3. Mensa is an organization whose members possess IQ that is in the top 2% of the

population. It is known that IQs are normally distributed with a mean of 100 and a
standard deviation of 16. Find the minimum IQ needed to be a Mensa member.

4. The distribution for the length of a particular fish type in a lake is assumed to be normal
with 12.8cm and standard deviation of 2.6cm.
(i) A fish is caught in this lake, find the probability that the length of the fish is
above 13.1 cm.
(ii) Find the value of l if 10% of the fishes have length above l cm.

5. Suppose SAT scores are normally distributed with a mean of 1000 and a standard
deviation of 100. How high must the score be to be in top 2% of all scores?

6. Suppose that the lifetime of a particular electronic circuit has a normal distribution with
mean 50,000 hours and standard deviation 8,000 hours.
(i) What is the probability that a randomly selected circuit will last less than 30,000
hours?
(ii) What is the probability that a randomly selected circuit will last more than 55,000
hours?

August 2014
Precision Parts is a job shop that specializes in producing electric motor shafts. The average shaft
size for the E300 electric motor is 0.55 inch, with a standard deviation of 0.10 inch. It is normally
distributed.
(i) what is the probability that a shaft size will be under 0.45 inch? (3 marks)
(ii) What is the probability that a shaft size will be between 0.53 and 0.59 inch? (3 marks)
(iii) Suppose 10% of the shaft is less than k inch. Find k. (4 marks)